About us

At Kemira, we use our chemistry to improve your everyday. We add optimal quality, functionality and strength to paper and board products, we ensure safety and hygiene of water and food packaging, and we maximize yield from energy resources.

Our areas of expertise are pulp & paper, water intensive industries & municipal water treatment, and oil & gas. Through our global network of dedicated experts, production facilities and R&D centers, we serve customers around the world and improve their product quality, resource efficiency and sustainability.

Revenue

2.6B€

with solid profitability

Number of employees

4,915

on six continents

Sales in over

100

countries

Adding to your everyday

At Kemira, we use our chemistry to improve your everyday. It means making your packaging lighter and stronger, your paper towels softer, and your print colors brighter. We make your drinking water safe, your wastewater clean, and by adding our chemistry, you get more out of energy resources.
By adding our expertise, your everyday business runs smoother and more efficiently. You add a committed partner who innovates together with you and creates solutions for a profitable, sustainable future. Our job is to add value while adding peace of mind.

We call it adding to your everyday.

Our purpose

We enable our customers to improve their water, energy and raw material efficiency.

Our vision

Our vision is to be the first choice in chemistry for water intensive industries.

Our values

We drive performance and innovation.
We are dedicated to customer success.
We care for people and the environment.
We succeed together.

Our strategy

Kemira is a great product company with chemistry and selling of chemicals at the core of our business. We win with best suited products and tailored services that improve our customers product quality, process and resource efficiency. Our target is to grow above-the-market with an operative EBITDA margin of 15-17%.

Our offering

We provide expertise, application know-how and chemicals that benefit our customers by optimizing product quality and yield, enhancing process and energy efficiency, and ensuring that water quality meets end-use specifications and regulatory requirements.

Our business is organized into two customer-based segments. Pulp & Paper represents some 60% of our group revenues, and Industry & Water 40%.

Pulp & Paper

Our customers can count on us for chemistry, expertise and partnership for every step of their process. We are able to supply everything their mill needs, from products to application expertise and smart process management. We work together with customers to improve their operational efficiency, sharpen their competitive edge, and reduce their costs.

Customers: Pulp and paper industry

Products and services: Chemical solutions, application expertise and smart process management for the entire process from pulp manufacture to paper production and to water treatment

Market area: Global

Position: We are the #2 chemistry partner to the pulp and paper industry worldwide

2018 results for Pulp & Paper

Revenue

€1.520B

60% of Kemira revenue

Operative EBITDA

12.6%

on track with company goals

Pulp & Paper

#2

market position

Industry & Water

We support municipalities and water intensive industries in the efficient and sustainable utilization of resources. In water treatment, we help in optimizing every stage of the water cycle. In oil and gas applications, our chemistries enable improved yield from existing reserves and reduced water and energy use.

Position: We are the market leaders in water treatment in North America and Europe, with strong growth in other markets, and are #2 in polymers in shale fracking

2018 results for Industry & Water

Revenue

€1.073B

40% of Kemira revenue

Chemical water treatment

#1

in Europe and North America

Shale fracking

#2

in polymers

Our main goal in R&D is to ensure that our product portfolio keeps evolving to meet our customers’ changing needs, not only in performance and price but also in sustainability and renewability. We are dedicated to achieving this through close collaboration with customers as well as leading research institutes, industrial partners and start-ups.

350

patent families

1,350

patents

With R&D centers on three continents, we’re constantly working to improve resource and business efficiency, together with our customers.

Espoo, Finland

Atlanta (GA), USA

Shanghai, China

Sustainability is a key aspect of our new product development work: we prioritize solutions that have improved sustainability performance compared to those already available on the market.

Global network – local expertise

Kemira wants to ensure a reliable, safe and responsible supply chain from end-to-end: from the procurement of raw materials to the final product and delivery to our customers. We source our raw materials responsibly and assess our suppliers against strict criteria. Some 23% of all raw materials used by us are recycled or industrial by-products from external partners. We conduct sustainability assessments on our suppliers, and ensure they meet our strict requirements for responsible business conduct, accepting our Code of Conduct for Suppliers, Distributors and Agents.

Our Environmental, Health, Safety and Quality program is built on three guiding principles:

Zero environmental harm

Zero harm to people

Customer satisfaction

We measure and track our performance on each of these, actively identifying opportunities for continuous improvement.

Our logistics network guarantees a reliable chemical supply, worldwide. The focus is on good visibility of delivery status, optimized loads and routes, safety and customer satisfaction.

Interested in becoming a supplier?

All of the significant suppliers covering more than 40% of Kemira’s annual spend have signed a contract to undergo a human rights screening. The contract commits the suppliers to fair and equal treatment of their workforce, and specific attention is paid to not using child labor in any of their operations.

New suppliers have to undergo a minimum requirement screening that checks compliance with applicable laws, the Kemira Code of Conduct, and the Kemira Code of Conduct for suppliers, agents and distributors, and a risk assessment.

Founded in Finland in 1920 as the state-owned “Sulfuric Acid and Superphosphate Plants Corporation”, the company focused on meeting the growing needs for chemistries in the industrial, mining and fertilizer sectors. Over several decades, other fields of expertise were added to the mix – for paints, pigments, manufacturing, textile fibers, and other materials. Likewise, the acquisitions and mergers of many other chemical producers and businesses added new knowledge and expertise.

As the company grew (and in 1972 was given the name of “Kemira”), excellent opportunities to internationalize the business began to arise. Through a series of mergers and acquisitions, Kemira began to take a market leader position in several different production types and market segments.

In 1994 the company was listed on the Helsinki Stock Exchange. Profitable, sustainable growth has been a key attraction for investors since becoming a listed company. In 2008, water chemistry became the bedrock of Kemira’s strategy.

The Kemira of today focuses on serving customers in water intensive industries: pulp & paper, municipal and industrial water treatment and oil & gas. We have units operating in 40 countries, represented by skilled personnel from over 60 nationalities. We have over 4800 employees globally.

A brief timeline

1920 – Founded as “Valtion Rikkihappo- ja Superfosfaattitehtaat Oy” (The State Sulphuric Acid and Superphosphate Plants)

Life at Kemira

Kemira offers you the right mix of opportunities and challenges in a global and diverse working environment. Our result-oriented and collaborative culture empowers you to solve the challenges of tomorrow in an inspiring company, so that together we can have a major impact on the future – yours, ours and the world’s.